Fake / Counterfeit HID Xenon bulbs on eBay. Beware.

[snerlo]

Good to know mate as I will be up for some bulbs in the near future I would say. Thanks for sharing. So these bulbs are definitely brighter than the OEM ones because if I'm honest, the OEM xenon bulbs are quite pathetic. Give me my old halogen reflectors in my XR8 any day!

[Vexed]

Good to know mate as I will be up for some bulbs in the near future I would say. Thanks for sharing. So these bulbs are definitely brighter than the OEM ones because if I'm honest, the OEM xenon bulbs are quite pathetic. Give me my old halogen reflectors in my XR8 any day!

Yes they are definitely brighter than OEM bulbs...

[seanmau5]

What kelvin rating would you give the genuine bulbs? The standard bulbs in my CC are more along the lines of 4300k which is too yellow for me. Looking for 5-6000k.


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[Vexed]

What kelvin rating would you give the genuine bulbs? The standard bulbs in my CC are more along the lines of 4300k which is too yellow for me. Looking for 5-6000k.


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Then the night breaker unlimited is not what you are looking for.
I thought my oem bulbs were 4300K, but they had a hint of blue in them.
The new bulbs are rated 4350K and they have no blue at all...
I suggest you try these Philips bulbs, they are rated at 4800K

Philips Xenon X-treme Vision D1S (Single) | PowerBulbs

[kamold]

My $20 fakes are very white with no blue. Whiter than my led drls and 5000K led parkers

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[Jusa101]

It seems that the same BS continues. I asked the seller if the bulbs were genuine or not and got no reply. Then I tried to buy them but the seller had banned me from buying. So it seems that they hide at all cost that they are fake and Ebay does nothing. I also noticed that all negative feedback is changed to positive after a few days so maybe they just refund the money so that buyer gives a positive. Thanks for the OP for the pictures, easy to spot fake ones in the future.

[theresanothersteve]

Full disclosure: I bought what is obviously counterfeit bulbs for $20 a pair and they actually perform very well. Then I looked into the whole counterfeit issue.
So if you are selling those $20 pairs for $100 or more that's some easy profit.

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There is also a question of ethics here.

People ask why they should buy the genuine, when the counterfeit is so much cheaper and (in some cases) works as well.

The problem is development. Someone (Osram, Philips etc) spends a lot of money on research and development. The cost is built into the final product. The counterfeiter, who has similar production costs, does not have to wear the development cost.

So, do you go with the cheapest or do you support the people who are developing the next generation, likely to be better and/ or cheaper than the current product?

I have no problem with cheap alternatives, such as scuff plates and the like, where the cheaper alternative is likely to be designed and developed by the supplier, but if IP (there, I said it) is involved I try to make ethical decisions.

[woofy]

It's a problem the world over. I lived for a big chunk of my life in rural areas. The same areas that cry for handouts when farmers do it tough, and want everyone to buy their produce. The same farmers who themselves buy the cheapest groceries imported from other countries and whatever else they can lay hands on while sending kids to private schools and collecting Austudy for them. There are ethical decisions the world over and sadly it's pretty easy to overlook them daily. Noone is really innocent here but it helps to think about things like this at times. Especially when most people here could afford to lay out for a reasonably expensive car.

[nat225]

bought a pair direct fr powerbulbs D1s osram nightbreaker plus just under au$200 posted. thats with their current 30% off deal.

[Connexionbasic]

Hello..
Firstly, thanks for your detailed information. I really appreciate it.

Unfortunately I did not read it before my misstake I bought two D1S Osram lamps from the same seller as you on eBay, with over 2500 positive comments I thought it would be legit. Arrived nicely, did not see any big difference (to be honest I did not know what to look for), installed them in my car. Worked perfectly fine for a few months, and then one of the bulbs started to flash, sometimes lighting up and at other times dead.

Message inside my car indicating something was wrong with the headlight, sometimes even when the bulb was lighting up. Googled what it could be and tried almost everything. Finally had a friends friend who works as a mechanic, to have a look. Told me that the bulb looked weird.. Therefore started to google more and found this and other threads about counterfeit and fake bulbs.

I opened up the "fake bulb" from the ebay seller, and compared it to my old one (factory installed) and noticed differences. It is fake!

How did you get refunded? What should I do?